Tip for today

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Marketing - The Art and Science of Connecting With Consumers

An electronic promoting firm is actually a organization about this reputation plus improvement of marketing providers in several promotion mobility. Today continuously developing complex lifestyle, you have to hold out together with 1 another from the progress with the digital camera more streamlined in order to capably along with properly purpose a small business. By means of drive your know-how on the a digital promoting organization, you may make sure ones business is actually for the casing connected with fresh technologies, but additionally tiny fraction with the digital camera revolt. Throughout incorporating, an electronic marketing and advertising bureau might help ones field in making energetic brand name awareness enthusiastic to be able to achievement plus part a person's clientele.

Throughout acquire that will help you appropriate precise resource regarding the advantages of electronic media channels, are just looking for marketing inclusion acts to give you actually tuck piling up valuable customer in order to people whom decide on to be able to get the electronic options. By means of considering this kind of piling up, be sure you marketing and advertising business could meliorate navigate your livelihood inside an holiday plans that can article writer successfully turn up ones shoppers. This particular deposition can easily explanation deployment solon specific plus connected communications for a prospects thusly convincing phone calls so that you can litigate that will employment to correct entire advertising attempts.

Audio in addition to taking podcasts sensitive extra figuring out with regard to outgo connected with a digital media channels permitting within your promoting promotions. Be sure you mass media enactment can certainly work together with your small business to create menstruation and begin connected with matter like penalization, training videos, precise delivers plus formation illustrations or photos concerning left over alternatives, around ailment to make along with enhance this transmission in addition to perform of this company. An adequately designed podcast might also mixture the log straight into iTunes, the section highly strong along with excessive works with penalization which will helpfulness you actually advance innovative associations and also meliorate already present human relationships concerning individuals. Around boost to help podcasts, usance on the net press participants are generally a further a digital signaling which will reply to salary ones style along with enjoy style.

An electronic promotion firm might accomplish people see your successfully the melodious array in which symbolize ones wide range along with attract along with resound with the customers. devote within a digital camera marketing and advertising firm occurs people the opportunity to bench craft company become tiny fraction in the electric rebellion any time great as being the chance to have to wait in the front place connected with information without the need of regularly perturbing concerning upkeep difficulties.

Oracle Marketing is among the major advertising and marketing firms in england. The firm accepts lead advertising and marketing because they realize it does not take exclusively method that's measurable along with scalable.

Oracles Promotion appreciates which so that you can lure potential customers lead advertising and marketing is the better selection because it guarantees utmost revenue. That provides the flexibleness to get hold of the customers plus clients plus showcase supplement within restricted spending budget. The business normally takes extra considered to approach their particular practices and also construct steer occasion and also preparing to force goods available in the market.

Oracle Advertising's accomplishment depends on the actual collection they've along with that they retain his or her efforts continuous through often replacing these for the innovative services and products. The corporation targets on occasion plus applies around number of systems so that you can gather ideal success. The organization is convinced the nice product or service and also information really should locate the site already in the market, plus its just probable in case you have the very best connected with methods as well as going to motivate all of them around current market. Oracle is doing this particular all of this a long time as well as improving answer.

Clover Marketing provides inside a brief amount come about because the foremost experts from the primary advertising market which has a clientele that will maintains raising every day. The business is extremely wise with the employment connected with escalating make recognition in addition to offering his or her consumers quantifiable success hence preserving these individuals constantly content. To be a business in which continually is greater then the actual objectives of these buyers, Clover Advertising and marketing ideals this laugh on the consumers confronts very much above all else along with thus features served after that experience vibrant returns.

Clover Marketing and advertising provides continually caused your enthusiasm along with strength which to the fantastic level possesses held the organization continue. Preserving customer support pertaining to customers towards top amount, this company provides was able to generate pertaining to per se a brandname title including a esteemed placement while in the primary promoting subject this not many bench craft companyproviders inside their group get achieved.

It's not necessarily exclusively purchasers that like the corporation because of its devotion plus customer support to these people. The business can be cherished simply by it's private staff members for any boundless chances to get increase how the organization treats. Clover Marketing is convinced with teaching excited staff to obtain fantastic height plus within escalating together with these individuals. Staff, exactly who use the several prospects, discover the business an acceptable spot to foster their particular goals of any excellent employment.

The organization will go wonderful pistols - growing to be able to fresh locations, creating break-through techniques plus obtaining any 5 hundred % increase fee within through six months time. Lead advertising is usually in the near future turning into one of the favorite processes involving advertising as well as in conjunction with this; Clover Advertising and marketing has started to become essentially the most chosen strong promotion corporation in addition. Having professionalism and trust, hard-work, determination as well as inspiration remaining this several added wheels which generate a chariot on the organization along with the group, Clover Marketing no doubt includes quite a distance to travel.

Your cell phone isn’t what it used to be. As technology and cell phone developers race frantically into competition to bring us the latest and greatest uber-combination: video, mp3 players, wireless internet, touch-button downloading, the frenzy continues to keep up with the times. As the camera phones and text messaging become the norm, more possibilities for the future of cell phones are slowly emerging.

The scope of the Internet is opening up incredible doors for dual-consumer technology; think of how easy it is to download information to a cell phone for mobile reference. This is only encouraged further with today’s functions of the iPod and Zune, allowing users to carry complete media files, videos, and music available to them at a touch of a button or screen. Cell phones are beginning to take on similar featuers; Verizon’s Chocolate is entertaining the masses with an iPod-like music feature. Bluetooth technologies are going mainstream as more people enjoy the freedom of hands-free roaming, as well as inter-gadget networking. And advertisers are noticing the trend, big time.

As advertising turns digital, more companies are realizing the potential benefits of branding and marketing in a digital format. Whether it’s through SMS text messaging, complete download plug-ins available to specific cell phone service subscribers, or sending out Bluetooth-enabled posters and images to ‘catch’ the views of Bluetooth users, advertising is approaching another revolutionary sequence that will change the way consumers receive messages.

Cell phones are the new customer ‘receivers;’ they are owned by thousands of empowered purchasers, people who make decisions on a daily basis. Subscribers to one cell phone service may enjoy the ability to download shopping ‘channels’ and other highlights direct from their providers; as more consumers pick up on this ease of technology, advertisers are honing in on the great potential to deliver targeted messages, incorporate video and music, and launch full-blast campaigns in an effort to literally ‘feed’ their demographic segments. Companies such as Mobi-TV are creating packages for advertisers to purchase segments of broadcast time that are delivered to cell phones on a particular network. As video-sharing becomes more prominent online, advertisers are harnessing the power of video and adapting it for delivery directly to the cell phone user.

Banner ads online are the equivalent of billboards and posters in the offline world; however, cell phones provide a uniquely independent, perhaps even distinguished medium, for advertisers to select, find, and literally ‘zap’ their markets with relevant content and creative material. Whether cell phone customers adapt to this easily is difficult to predict at this time. Needless to say, the likes of ESPN Mobile are creating new opportunities for entertainment and advertising technology.

Friday, August 19, 2011

Comparing Granite and Marble Countertops: Which 1 Should You Choose?

Granite and marble are equally stones which implies they can be both equally sturdy, major, and surprisingly difficult. Simultaneously, because both these stones can genuinely final a life time, they are equally equally high-priced and extremely hard to polish and set up. Considering that they're equally stones, these are normally patterned, as a result, you may get granite or surface encounters marble that's not fairly related to the style in the catalog that you ordered so it could be finest to actually see the actual products when picking the kind of style and design and pattern you want alternatively of relying only on photos. Both equally are heat resistant and so they don't scorch when put even using a extremely sizzling substance this kind of as iron pots and pans.

However, granite is way harder than marble and it's far more resistant to scratches and heavy impacts in comparison with marble. At the same time, granite is much more defiant to acids this kind of as vinegar, lemon juice, and tomato juice, together with other things with higher amounts of acidity. To assist you better recognize the strengths of equally stones, let us get a closer glimpse as to how they ended up shaped. Marble, and all its stone family - onyx, travertine, and limestone for the onset had been sediments created of shells, plant issue, animal skeletons, and silt which all settled at the bottom of bodies of drinking water and right after years of staying soaked in water, they solidify and turn out to be stones/ Marble’s primary part is calcium and that is the motive why it has a tendency to react to acids this kind of as vinegar as well as other beverages that incorporate citrus. Granite, on the other hand, is built up of crystallized minerals shaped in the earth’s mantle at higher temperature. The end result is actually a tough, really resistant stone. Marble can be scratched and etched by acids since it is made of calcium carbonate and that is very much like chalk however the only difference is surface encounters marble is compressed and in a very crystallized sort. While in the same manner, marble has fewer patterns, actually it truly is more normally sold in its white shade so stains and mars could stand out a lot more uncovered in marble. Granite contains a much more complicated pattern that may conceal the stains far better. Regarding designs even so, marble has a finer, more elegant look than granite. The crystal formations in marble are additional satiny and finer in nature which makes it search more deluxe. Granite has more substantial, pea-sized crystals which might be coarser for the eye.

Ultimately, in terms of longevity, the granite countertop would be a lot more tough and more resistant to stains and scratches whilst the looks are won by marble. Marble even so is inexpensive than granite nonetheless it requires larger servicing. So, all of it boils down to that which you really want as being a countertop. Would you settle to get a countertop that is certainly extremely hard-wearing and although not as pretty as being the other a person, or would you trade magnificence for longevity and strength?

Monday, August 15, 2011

New Employ Criminal Track record Check

An employment criminal background check is now usually carried out not only to potential employees but to current employees for promotion also. It's usually carried out to validate information found on an employee's resume or software form. It is also carried out to identify the best suited possible employee amongst the applicants. Also with what has happened on September 11, 2011, employers are actually extremely worried using the kind of employees they hire.

A background investigation consists of criminal, arrest, imprisonment, and intercourse offender documents. This is really a type of examine where state data are examined to investigate if a potential worker or current worker has been convicted or charged with any crime in opposition to the state.

Citizenship, immigration and legal operating standing checks are also done simply because American businesses are barred from hiring illegal workers from the Department of Homeland Safety and its Immigrations and Customs Enforcement Division.

Litigation data are also checked. Workers who frequently file discrimination cases might be identified as a danger to a business thus employers resort to litigation checks. Also, those companies who do business with the authorities do not want to hire whistleblowers who file qui tam suits.

Driving and vehicle data will also be component with the track record check, particularly when a possible worker is applying to get a driver place. Employers appear for workers who've clean driving data or those that don't have any records of vehicular accidents or traffic tickets.

Drug test data will also be becoming checked. An employer would not wish to employ drug addicts in his company because of company ethics, worker performance will probably be impacted and increase of workers' compensation premiums.

Education data are also part of the criminal background check investigation. This really is done to confirm academic attainment with the possible worker and occasionally to check if applicant has had misdemeanor records in school.

Prior employment data might also be checked especially if the applicant will fill a delicate place within the company. This is generally done verbally.

Financial info is also checked especially in the event the place being filled requires somebody to handle large amount of cash.

For experts, licensing data are checked for grievances, disciplinary actions and investigations.

Health-related, psychological and physiological files are also checked simply because a potential worker may not be match to work for health reasons. A created consent in the applicant must be procured before going via the whole procedure.

Social safety number examine can also be carried out simply because identity theft is quite rampant. A previous life may be concealed or an applicant might not have fulfilled the citizenship necessity might be verified through the social safety number.

Although most the over records are public records and may be procured from different government companies within the Usa of America, it is nonetheless extremely inconvenient for employers to do background check on its potential workers as well as present employees. There are numerous personal investigators who provide the service. Also, you will find third celebration companies who also provide the same type of service. You will find also available online information financial institutions which can offer the necessary information about individuals. What they do is they buy U.S. public data and offer them online for a charge.

Eliminate Credit score Card Financial debt Quick

Acquiring your check my credit score will provide you having a very crucial bit of credit score information. These scores assortment from anywhere between 300 and 900. The greater it's the much better prices you can expect to obtain on loans. Your score will assist you to make sense of your credit history, it offers a good picture of how nicely you are handling your finances and also offers you insight into exactly what creditors and loan companies look at when figuring out whether you're qualified for a charge card or mortgage.

This really is exactly why we advise that everybody obtain their totally free credit score score a minimal of 1 time per year. When you are about to use for a charge card, it's a great plan to obtain a copy of one's score and report, and look at it to make certain that all of the information is correct. It's possible to acquire a duplicate of one's report completely free of charge every and each and every year from every one with the credit bureaus.

While the above concept is really a totally acceptable means of tracking your credit score standing you can also get a three in one report as an option.

This kind of report offers the information that appears in your report as compiled by Equifax, Experian and TransUnion and offers you the big picture of what your credit background actually looks like. Usually, a three in one credit history provides you a short list of potentially difficult info, which you are able to quickly and effortlessly assess. It is moreover identified as a 3 Bureau Credit history.

Collectors, lenders, and banks will report into a credit bureau any time a customer gets a loan, opens up a fresh credit card account, misses a payment on a monthly bill, or files for individual personal bankruptcy. However, they're not needed to report it to all 3 credit bureaus. The result is that the no price credit history you get from one credit score bureau could probably be lacking some essential particulars. That lacking information can often have an excellent influence on your credit score status. In the event you would like a really clear view of how good or dreadful your credit report truly is, you need to look at investing in a three in 1 credit history.

A comprehensive evaluation of one's online credit score and report will provide you having a fantastic insight into your financial situation. Within the event you put in your purchase for a complete credit score from 1 of the three credit score bureaus, you are able to be qualified to obtain your credit document from Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax within a joint file. These are heading to help you in simple evaluation of precisely exactly where you stand and make it possible for you to notice the variations inside your 3 credit score reviews. It is heading to help you follow all loans and cost cards which are opened in your name and also you also are heading to be in a position to understand which businesses contact the credit score bureaus.

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Making Money Cash

Holding on to unclaimed property could soon begin hurting corporate bottom lines as cash-strapped states adjust their escheatment policies in an effort to raise revenues. States are changing the rules regarding the seizure of lost property, changing the reporting requirements for corporations that must report unclaimed property, and increasing audit activity and the size of fines, all in an effort to speed up the process that awards unclaimed funds to their rightful owners or to the state.

An area of compliance that hasn’t generated a lot of concern from corporate secretaries may soon command their attention – but not in a good way. Fines for non-compliance can be in the millions.

‘We’re seeing states increase the number of audits that they conduct in an effort to induce penalties, fines and interest fees,’ says Karen Anderson, vice president of compliance at Unclaimed Property Recovery and Reporting, which provides pre-escheatment owner location services to corporations.

‘States are also changing the extent of what needs to be reported – for example, making it clear that they want the social security numbers and even email addresses of the owners of lost property,’ Anderson says. Such changes have financial implications for companies because internal systems and controls may need to be adjusted in order to meet the new standards of compliance.

John Buonomo, senior vice president of regulatory services for AST, says the dormancy periods for unclaimed property continue to shrink, which means companies have to be more diligent about alerting the state that the time owners have to collect their property has expired. He says most states used to have five-year dormancy periods, with some at seven years, but now ‘there are no sevens and very few fives; almost everyone is at three years, with a few states pushing to move to two years on certain assets.’

Time is short

Unclaimed property laws in 48 states and Washington, DC have dormancy periods that are triggered by inactivity, so companies need to be aware of the length of time that each state believes constitutes ‘inactivity’. The faster the dormancy period is reached, the faster the states can start assessing fines or collecting lost assets for their coffers.

Increasing the number of audits also increases the opportunities to collect fines. Buonomo says California was one of the first states to begin aggressively fining companies, but Michigan is implementing fines this year and other states are following. Experts estimate that in most states, only 15 percent to 35 percent of all companies are in full compliance with escheatment laws, so enforcement could yield a pretty penny.

The cost to some companies could be huge. On unclaimed property consulting firm Keane’s website, a blog post written by chief compliance officer Debbie Zumoff and Valerie Jundt, the managing director of Keane National Consulting and Advisory Services, warns that ‘because there’s virtually no statute of limitations for unclaimed property in most states, the time frame for compliance may be expanded, creating the need to estimate liability for historical years. This can result in an increase in the known liability by three to eight times, translating into millions of dollars potentially owed to states in fines and penalties.’

And states are ramping up efforts to collect, with the backing of the courts. Insurer John Hancock has been involved in three collection actions already this year – a $20 million unclaimed property settlement in California, an agreement to establish a $10 million fund to repay beneficiaries and supply an additional payment of $3 million to three regulatory agencies in Florida, and a settlement with Louisiana, 35 states and the District of Columbia to recover unclaimed insurance proceeds.

Financial institutions such as John Hancock have become prime targets for states that have stepped up enforcement of escheatment laws. Jundt identified several areas where financial institutions were particularly vulnerable to liability in a recent article she penned for Bankers Digest. During an audit, states may find that financial institutions have not properly identified potential unclaimed property that should be included in their annual reports, have forgotten to return small loan credit balances to customers, have not followed up proactively to reactivate customers’ dormant accounts, or have simply made filings to the wrong state. Because financial institutions deal with massive amounts of money and potentially millions of customers, mistakes are often duplicated many times over, and this can lead to multiple fines that can add up to millions of dollars.

Staying in compliance

To avoid state actions, Anderson suggests companies reassess their policies and procedures on unclaimed property to make sure that they are in line with state regulations. Some states have changed their rules concerning the types of assets that are considered unclaimed property, so being proactive about compliance before being audited will help companies to avoid fines.
‘With so many states cash-strapped and extending their reach, being proactive has never been more important than now,’ says Anderson.

Companies should also review the effectiveness of their unclaimed property efforts more regularly, looking for ways to improve efficiency. A quarterly review of company procedures involving reaching out to unclaimed property owners or exploring new options for locating beneficiaries is a positive step.

Buonomo, whose company helps stock issuers locate the owners of lost shares, says stock issuers, who often find themselves in the position of locating beneficiaries of shareholders who have died or forgotten about shares, should consider implementing escheatment programs that can handle unclaimed property issues in the future. He says such programs, which actively seek out the owners of unclaimed property and return it to them, can have a positive effect on the reputation of a company. Stock issuers usually don’t pay for programs that return shares to shareholders – instead, companies charge the shareholders a fee for alerting them to their lost asset. Even thought they have to pay a little to get hold of their assets, customers will generally think highly of a company that is honest enough to return money to them that they didn’t know they had coming.

Such programs can also protect corporate secretaries and investor relations executives from the wrath of their boards. ‘If you get hit with a $500,000 fine from California for being late on escheatment of property, no exec is going to be able to explain that away to the board,’ Buonomo says.

[Article by Matthew Scott, Corporate Secretary]

In 11 days, Alberto Del Rio takes part in his first-ever Money In The Bank pay-per-view. The problem is that there isn't much knowledge as to what exactly he will be at that pay-per-view.

Del Rio was announced as one of the eight Money in the Bank participants for RAW's ladder match. If Del Rio wins that briefcase, he would be given a chance to cash in a title match against the WWE Champion, who is currently John Cena.

Del Rio facing Cena has been a rumored SummerSlam main event for quite some time, so having Del Rio win and cash in quickly could set up this as a main event for SummerSlam with the WWE Championship on the line. This seemed to be a likely scenario for Del Rio, until CM Punk's worked shoot promo occurred.

CM Punk, his promo and his future in WWE is the one thing that has captivated all pro wrestling fans in the last few weeks. His promo has brought more discussion from more unlikely outlets than many other WWE story lines in recent memory.

Last week's RAW was taped the same night as CM Punk's shocking promo, meaning that his suspension and reinstatement was already making its way around wrestling sites days before it actually happened.

With that known, WWE still put on a triple threat number one contender's match on that same RAW to crown a new challenger for John Cena's WWE Championship. Del Rio competed against Rey Mysterio and R-Truth in that match, which was seldom talked about compared to the reinstatement of Punk.

All three men in the match were already a part of RAW's Money in the Bank ladder match. Logic would suggest that the winner would be pulled from the Money in the Bank ladder match in favor of the WWE Championship match, putting a new participant in the mix.

reputation management companies

News attacks — Crooked Timber

I've received the ultimate accolade from News Corporation, graduating from snarky asides and dark mutterings in which I'm identified only indirectly to a full-length hit piece in our only national (general) newspaper, ...

News attacks — Crooked Timber

News In Brief: Life - Science News

Flowery advertising, tempting toilets for shrews, bat beacons and more in this week's news.

News In Brief: Life - Science News

CBS News Executives Speak Out on License Fees, Dan Rather at TCA ...

CBS News Executives Speak Out on License Fees, Dan Rather at TCA.

CBS News Executives Speak Out on License Fees, Dan Rather at TCA ...

Monday, August 1, 2011

tracking personal finances

OS X Lion isn't out yet, but it could be hitting the Mac App Store as soon as next week. For many Mac users, the decision on whether or not to upgrade to Lion is boiling down to one incompatible app -- Quicken for Mac. We've been hearing from our readers for several weeks that Quicken is the sticking point.

In this post, I'll discuss what your options are to control your personal finances with a Lion-compatible Mac app. You'll be glad to know that Intuit's flagship app isn't the only game in town.

Intuit sent out a note to "Valued Quicken Customers" over the last few days stating that Quicken for Mac 2005, 2006, and 2007 will not run on OS X Lion. Intuit offered some solutions that had TUAW readers steaming:

Move to Quicken Essentials for Mac

The slimmed-down, next-generation app will work on Lion, but it doesn't have all the features users of the standard Quicken are used to. Intuit is even offering a 50% discount, but points out that you need to make the move before you upgrade to Lion since the app won't import your old data under Lion...

Move to Mint.com

This is Intuit's replacement for the old Quicken Online, and it's a web-based personal finance site. However, there's no way to move your existing Quicken data to Mint.com. Great thinking there, Intuit.

Move to Quicken Deluxe... on Windows

Brilliant idea, Intuit, if you have a Windows machine handy. If you're in an all-Mac home, forget it. If you want to run Windows 7 under Boot Camp on your Mac just to run Quicken Deluxe, you have to get a license for Windows 7 ($188 for Windows 7 Home Premium Full Edition on Amazon) and Quicken Windows ($35 for Quicken Deluxe on Amazon). Running a virtual machine under Parallels or VMWare adds additional cost.

Why not take this time to move away from Quicken altogether? Here are my suggestions for other apps that will take your existing financial data into the world of Lion.

iBank 4

Probably the best solution for most Mac users moving to OS X Lion is iBank 4 (US$59.99). It's available on the Mac App Store, it imports files from Quicken for Mac or PC, and it even has a mobile companion (iBank Mobile, $4.99) for tracking expenses and monitoring account balances. Feeling anxious about moving your data from Quicken to iBank? Don't be -- they even have a set of online video tutorials to set your mind at ease.

Money 4

Another personal finance application that is Lion-ready is Money 4 from Jumsoft ($18.99). It imports and exports Quicken QIF files, handles recurring payments, and does portfolio management. Reviews of the current version aren't exactly glowing, but many of the comments appear to be from people who don't understand even the basics of accounting, so your mileage may vary.

iFinance for Mac

Here's another finance app with a mobile companion. iFinance for Mac ($29.99) also imports Quicken QIF files, and the universal iFinance Mobile app ($1.99) is a good way to capture expenses on the go.

MoneyWell

One of the more higher-rated Mac personal finance apps is MoneyWell ($49.99). It supports importing financial transactions directly from many banks and other financial institutions, and imports a number of the Quicken formats that have been developed and then abandoned over the years. Anyone who purchases the current 1.6.8 version from the Mac App Store receives a free upgrade to the upcoming (Summer 2011) 2.0 release.

Koku

The Mac app that gets the award for the brightest page in the Mac App Store has to be Koku ($29.99). If you can make it past the purple background, there's some great information in the description. Like many of the other apps, Koku imports Quicken files and can directly pull transactions from many banks. Koku provides a "smart tagging technology" to label your spending and income with phrases that are familiar to you.

PocketMoney

To say that longtime developer Hardy Macia of Catamount Software is an Apple fan is putting it lightly -- he developed apps for the Newton platform for many years, including the first iterations of PocketMoney ($19.99). Now the app is available for Mac and PC, but the emphasis is on the iOS version of the app. Mac users may find the Mac flavor lacking in some features, and Macia admits that the current version is primarily for syncing the iOS app to the desktop. Still, the app has most of the features that users will want in a personal finance app, including one that I found fascinating -- the ability to affix photos of receipts and checks to transactions.

Budget

An interesting take on personal finance and budgeting is Budget ($39.99) from Snowmint Creative Solutions. This app does away with the traditional ledger format of most accounting applications and replaces it with envelopes. Envelopes represent different accounts, and you move money between envelopes to show where money is coming from and going to. It imports OFX and QIF files, but does not support direct bank connections.

iCompta

Yet another ledger-like Mac app for keeping those dollars, pounds, francs, or euros in line, iCompta ($18.99) also features a $4.99 iOS companion named iCompta 2. Import of existing Quicken data is a given with most of these apps, and iCompta is no exception. It'll also grab your transactions from many banks.

Squirrel

The winner in the cute logo competition has to go to Squirrel ($24.99), which features a squirrel stashing gold coins in a safe. The app imports existing transactions with ease, lets you define scheduled transactions and budgets, and even brings the Apple concept of Smart Folders to Mac finance for filtering transactions. Squirrel also has an iPhone companion that is highly rated and appears to be very easy to use.

iCash SE

At the end of the list is a powerful accounting app that has been localized for a number of different languages, including Catalan, Chinese, Dutch, Czech, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, and English. Like many of the other apps listed here, iCash SE ($49.99) doesn't use double-entry bookkeeping so it's fairly easy to use. While it doesn't appear that iCash SE supports import of bank transactions, you can definitely get your Quicken data into the app.

Conclusion

Well, that's it for our roundup of Lion-compatible apps, all of which are available today in the Mac App Store. Don't let anyone tell you that there's no personal accounting solution except for Quicken. I'd love to hear from Mac users who are fans of these or other finance apps, as I'm sure you have good feedback on what the high and low points are for many of these applications.

One thing is for sure -- if you're considering making the move to Lion in the very near future, taking care of your personal accounting software needs should be foremost in your mind.

In this post, I'll discuss what your options are to control your personal finances with a Lion-compatible Mac app. You'll be glad to know that Intuit's flagship app isn't the only game in town.

Move to Quicken Essentials for Mac

Move to Mint.com

Move to Quicken Deluxe... on Windows

Why not take this time to move away from Quicken altogether? Here are my suggestions for other apps that will take your existing financial data into the world of Lion.

iBank 4

Money 4

iFinance for Mac

MoneyWell

Koku

PocketMoney

Budget

iCompta

Squirrel

iCash SE

Conclusion

One thing is for sure -- if you're considering making the move to Lion in the very near future, taking care of your personal accounting software needs should be foremost in your mind.

It's Official: Your Birth Control Will Be Fully Covered

Here's a rare bit of excellent news: The Department of Health and Human Services has signed off on recommendations to include contraception in preventative care. In other words, kiss your co-pay goodbye.

It's Official: Your Birth Control Will Be Fully Covered

Linux gets a bit of good news on the Netflix front | TechRepublic

From the engineers of Netflix comes some good news for the Linux community and Jack Wallen is here to tell you about it.

Linux gets a bit of good news on the Netflix front | TechRepublic

Newsbeat, Chartbeat's news-focused analytics tool, places its bets ...

Late last week, Chartbeat released a new product: Newsbeat, a tool that takes the real-time analytics it already offers and tailors them even more directly to the needs of news orgs. Newsbeat essentially breaks down the news site into ...

Newsbeat, Chartbeat's news-focused analytics tool, places its bets ...

Friday, July 29, 2011

Making Money Your

Rick Cesari (@cesaridrtv) is a regular guy who did what every businessperson is supposed to do and talks about doing but rarely does. He spotted a trend, turned it into an opportunity and created millions in sales. And now, he’s sharing his stories, insights and experiences in his book, Buy Now: Creative Marketing That Gets Customers to Respond to You and Your Product.

I received a review copy from Rick’s team and also had the opportunity to chat with Rick and ask him a few behind the scenes questions. I found him to be extremely engaging and fun to talk to; he was full of ideas and stories that made it hard to hang up!

How Rick Cesari’s Story Changed Direct Marketing

Rick’s story begins like many of ours. He went to college and got a summer job as a lifeguard. One of the ways he could make extra cash as a lifeguard was to sell suntan lotion. This is where he learned to use a winning formula to make extra money: Present a problem, offer a solution and then explain how his product was better than anything else out on the market today. It wasn’t just a winning formula for selling suntan lotion, it was a winning formula for selling some of the most successful products of the last 30 years.

In the late 1970s, Cesari got involved with real estate. Rick produced real estate seminars that ended up making more money for the real estate gurus than their real estate strategies ever did. And when Ronald Reagan deregulated television in 1982, this changed everything. Before 1982 advertisers could only purchase 8 minutes of advertising an hour. But after deregulation, they could purchase an hour of advertising time! Cesari knew he was on to something. He would use the lessons he learned by selling suntan lotion and real estate to revolutionize direct response marketing.

Buy Now is a terrific combination of real life case studies and lessons in direct response marketing. Just because you have no intention of creating an infomercial doesn’t mean that you have nothing to learn from this book. In fact, the core principles behind each and every example such as SoniCare Toothbrushes or the OxyClean brand has something wonderful to offer for every entrepreneur, business owner or sales and marketing professional.

Take the Time to Test for Increased Profitability

Here is a terrific example from Chapter 14 titled, “The Offer Is King.” If you think that the price level drives the offer, you would be wrong. Selling product is more about the offer than the price. Rick recommends having a variety of different offers to test. “You will always be tempted to test an offer that makes YOU the most money upfront. That’s not smart and it’s not accurate.”

Cesari goes on to share a powerful story of a piece of exercise equipment that was in the $200 price range. Of course they had a payment plan. First they tried three payments of $79. They couldn’t break even. Then they tried six payments of $39 – that did even worse. Finally they did something completely different. They offered a trial payment of $14.95 for the first 30 days. They used the increased call volume to research other price points and actually settled on $700!

As it turned out, when the consumers saw the $200 price tag, they assumed the machine was low quality – and didn’t buy. But once they had it in their home, they were able to justify a much higher price.

Another of my favorite sections is the discussion about why everything is priced at $19.95 and $39.95. Would you believe that this isn’t true – it just seems that way!

After running many tests, Cesari found that consumers see product price in terms of $20 increments; $19.95, $39.95, $49.95 and $59.95. In fact, when tested, consumers see very little difference between $29.95 and $39.95. The same is true at the $49.95 and $59.95 price points. Consumers just didn’t see that much of a difference in price – but you bet your bottom line will. This section alone can change your profitability almost immediately!

Who Should Read This Book

Buy Now is an ideal book for sales and marketing people, business owners and inventors. This is a book you will want to read with pen and paper by your side. My copy already has plenty of dog-eared highlights and underlines. The Cesari Direct website contains a video with a quick introduction to the book by Rick himself.

Cesari’s focus on the basics of tripping customer emotions and focusing on benefits that resonate with customers will inspire you to look at your marketing a whole new way.

From Small Business TrendsRead Buy Now and Get Profit Making Tips From a Direct Response Marketing Master

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One of the biggest reasons we enjoy the weekend is more time with family and friends. We can make our weekends (and weeks) even better by spending more time being social:

This paper exploits the richness and large sample size of the Gallup/Healthways US daily poll to illustrate significant differences in the dynamics of two key measures of subjective well-being: emotions and life evaluations. We find that there is no day-of-week effect for life evaluations, represented here by the Cantril Ladder, but significantly more happiness, enjoyment, and laughter, and significantly less worry, sadness, and anger on weekends (including public holidays) than on weekdays. We then find strong evidence of the importance of the social context, both at work and at home, in explaining the size and likely determinants of the weekend effects for emotions. Weekend effects are twice as large for full-time paid workers as for the rest of the population, and are much smaller for those whose work supervisor is considered a partner rather than a boss and who report trustable and open work environments. A large portion of the weekend effects is explained by differences in the amount of time spent with friends or family between weekends and weekdays (7.1 vs. 5.4 hours). The extra daily social time of 1.7 hours in weekends raises average happiness by about 2%.

Source: "Weekends and Subjective Well-Being" from NBER Working Paper No. 17180

For more on happiness check out Gretchen Rubin's The Happiness Project or Harvard professor Daniel Gilbert's Stumbling on Happiness.

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